Ex-Citadel camp counselor pleads guilty to sex abuse

June 13, 2012|Reuters

(Editor's Note: Please be advised that this story containscontent of a sexual nature)

By Harriet McLeod

CHARLESTON, S.C., June 13 (Reuters) - A former SouthCarolina educator and coach who once worked as a summer campcounselor at The Citadel military college was sentenced to 50years in prison on Wednesday after pleading guilty to sexualabuse crimes involving 23 young male victims.

Louis "Skip" ReVille, 32, was arrested last fall and accusedof abusing boys he had coached at schools and in communityrecreation programs, taught in public and private schools, andled in Bible study at his church.

Prosecutors said the crimes took place over the course of adecade, with some victims as young as 10. The charges were basedon 23 cooperating victims, but ReVille named about 35 victims inall, said prosecutor Scarlett A. Wilson.

"I want to apologize to the victims. I am the only oneresponsible. I am sorry for what I did," ReVille said during hisplea hearing in Charleston.

ReVille's case gained national attention last fall justafter former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sanduskywas arrested and charged with sexually abusing 10 boys over 15years. Sandusky's trial is underway in Pennsylvania.

ReVille, a 2002 graduate of The Citadel, was hired by thecollege as a camp counselor for three summers, from 2001 to2003. There, according to documents released by The Citadel, helured boys to his room with pizza and Chinese food to viewpornography and masturbate while he also masturbated.

In November, the school said it had investigated accusationsagainst ReVille in 2007 but took no action.

After graduating from college, ReVille worked for the nextnine years as a sports coach and teacher at several public andprivate schools in three South Carolina counties. He also was ayouth church leader in Mount Pleasant, where he supervisedovernight church youth events and formed a Bible study program.

"A MASTER MANIPULATOR"

Prosecutor Debbie Herring-Lash said that ReVille abusedchildren at his home, at the schools where he worked and hischurch, and in his car after inviting them to his house ordriving them to various sports and church events that hesupervised.

Prosecutors said that the abuse included multiple oral sexacts and masturbation.

ReVille was assistant principal of Coastal ChristianPreparatory School in Mount Pleasant when he was arrested lastfall. He faced charges including criminal sexual conduct with aminor in the first and second degrees; criminal solicitation ofa minor; lewd acts upon a minor; and dissemination of obscenematerial to minors.

A man identified only as John Doe No. 13 because he was asex crime victim testified in court on Wednesday that ReVille"is narcissistic with a God complex. He is a master manipulator.He has no soul. If I was still a religious man, I would call hima demon."

The man, now 25, said he was molested when he was a16-year-old summer camper at The Citadel. He said the shame hefelt from the abuse caused him to start using drugs at age 19and subsequently to attempt suicide.

He wept as he apologized to other victims, saying he couldhave stopped ReVille in 2003 if he had reported the summer campabuse. "I was just too afraid," he said.

Judge R. Markley Dennis Jr. also ordered seven years ofcourt supervision for ReVille after his release from prison.

Three young men who said they were molested by ReVille filedlawsuits in March against The Citadel and its president accusingthem of covering up the 2007 report of abuse by a former camper.The Citadel maintains that, according to South Carolina law, itsofficials and staff are not included in the list of mandatoryreporters of child sexual abuse.

Citadel attorney Dawes Cooke Jr. said the school intends "tovigorously defend all three of these cases."